Partulidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of air-breathing land snails,

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...

gastropod

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

s in the superfamily

Pupilloidea Pupilloidea is a superfamily of small and very small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial gastropod mollusks in the infraorder ''Pupilloidei'' . Taxonomy This superfamily contains the following families: * Achatinellidae Gulick, 1873 * A ...

.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Partulidae Pilsbry, 1900. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=162663 on 2021-12-12 The family is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

islands.Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed at http://animaldiversity.org. ITIS Standard Report Page: Partulidae
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Genera

The Partulidae are divided into five genera: Cowie, R.H. (1992). Evolution and Extinction of Partulidae, Endemic Pacific Island Land Snails. Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, Vol. 335, No. 1274 (Feb. 29, 1992), pp. 167-191. * '' Eua'' has four species, confined to

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

and

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

. * '' Palaopartula'' Pilsbry, 1909- has three species, restricted to the

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the ...

. * '' Partula'' Pilsbry, 1909 - has about 100 species, distributed from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torr ...

to the

Society Islands The Society Islands (french: Îles de la Société, officially ''Archipel de la Société;'' ty, Tōtaiete mā) are an archipelago located in the South Pacific Ocean. Politically, they are part of French Polynesia, an overseas country of the ...

. * '' Samoana'' Pilsbry, 1909 - has about 23 species, distributed in

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

and the Mariana Islands. * '' Sphendone'' has a single species from the Palau. This

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to ...

shows the phylogenic relationships of genera in the family Partulidae:Lee T., Burch J. B., Coote T., Pearce-Kelly P., Hickman C., Meyer J.-Y. & Foighil D. O. (18 August 2009). "Moorean tree snail survival revisited: a multi-island genealogical perspective". ''

BMC Evolutionary Biology ''BMC Ecology and Evolution'' (since January 2021), previously ''BMC Evolutionary Biology'' (2001–2020), is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal covering all fields of evolutionary biology, including phylogenetics and palaeontology ...

'' 9: 204.

Synonyms

* ''Aega'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Samoana (Marquesana)'' Pilsbry, 1909 represented as ''Samoana'' Pilsbry, 1909 * ''Astraea'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Clytia'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Echo'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula (Leptopartula)'' Pilsbry, 1909: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Evadne'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Samoana'' Pilsbry, 1909 * ''Harmonia'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula (Marianella)'' Pilsbry, 1909: synonym of v * ''Helena'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Latia'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Samoana (Marquesana)'' Pilsbry, 1909 represented as ''Samoana'' Pilsbry, 1909 (unavailable; a junior homonym of Latia Gray, 1850 atiidae * ''Marianna'' Pilsbry, 1909: synonym of ''Partula (Marianella)'' Pilsbry, 1909: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Matata'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Nenia'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Oenone'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Pasithea'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821(junior synonym) * ''Rennellia'' Clench, 1941: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 (junior synonym) * ''Scilistylus'' Iredale, 1941: synonym of''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821 * ''Sterope'' Hartman, 1881: synonym of ''Partula (Melanesica)'' Pilsbry, 1909: synonym of ''Partula'' A. Férussac, 1821

Anatomy

In this family, the number of haploid

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

s lies between 26 and 30 (according to the values in this table).Barker G. M.: Gastropods on Land: ''Phylogeny, Diversity and Adaptive Morphology''. in Barker G. M. (ed.):
The biology of terrestrial molluscs
'. CABI Publishing, Oxon, UK, 2001, . 1-146, cited pages: 139 and 142.

Significance

The Partulidae represent a significant species radiation and were important in the development of modern evolutionary studies through the work of Henry Crampton in the early 20th century and later by

Bryan Clarke Bryan Campbell Clarke (24 June 1932 – 27 February 2014) was a British Professor of genetics, latterly emeritus at the University of Nottingham. Clarke is particularly noted for his work on apostatic selection (which is a term he coined ...

, James Murray and Michael Johnson.

Status

Most Partulidae species have declined since 1974 and a very large proportion are extinct. The main threat to their survival has been the introduction of the predatory snail '' Euglandina rosea''.

References

* Gerlach J. (2016). Icons of evolution: Pacific Island tree-snails of the family Partulidae. Phelsuma Press.

External links

* Partulidae evolution, diversity and conservatio
Partula Pages

Bouchet, P. & Rocroi, J.-P. (2005). Classification and nomenclator of gastropod families. Malacologia. 47 (1-2): 1-397
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